Kelle was sweet enough to take time out to answer my questions as well. Thank you!She is very busy right now with a new adventure that I wil be blogging about in another article! Look for it!
Here are Kelle's answers!
1. When did you first start creating and then selling your creations?
I started creating about 3 years ago and sold my first finished doll online shortly thereafter.
2. Many romanticize the idea of running a craft business from home. What are two things you know now about having a home-based craft business, that you wish you knew when you started your own business?
One would be how important staying organized is. Just like any other small or home based business it's important to keep your business well organized. This includes invoices, expenses, etc. For some time I was doing everything by hand and come tax time it was really a challenge to get everything together. Since then I have discovered Quick Books and it really has made keeping the financial aspect of my business organized, much easier.
3.What advice can you give potential craft business owners about marketing their product?
Patience and the willingness to devote ongoing marketing. One thing new craft business owners tend to believe that is false, is that if they build a website sales will follow. This simply is not the case unless they have already built a nice sized customer base. It takes a lot of ongoing marketing to get your business in front of customers. The internet is enormous and it's so easy for a business to get lost among so many others.
4. What is your typical crafting day like?
I generally devote time in the evening once my children are asleep. There are other times when my 5 year old daughter will come out to the studio with me when she's not in school. I have a nice set up out there with a tv and her toy box. Often times she will sit beside me while I sew and she will paint with her watercolors.
5.What sparks your creativity?Who inspires you?
Pretty much everything around me. I also find inpiration through old books, reading stories set back in the 1800's, and my own imagination. There's so many people I'm inspired by, it would be hard to just name a few.
6. What do you LOVE to work on? What do you HATE?
I love making dolls and bringing them to life so to speak. My favorite part of making a doll is watching their characture come to life through their facial features. My least favorite thing to work on would be custom orders. I am really not one that would enjoy remaking the same doll over and over or doing 20 of the same thing for a craft show. I would get bored very quickly and lose interest. For me, I enjoy being able to let my creativity take me where it will and not hindering it by remaking a doll. Thus, majority of my dolls are one of a kind.
Kelle Arvay
website URL: www.DirtyCrowInn.com
http://stores.ebay.com/Dirty-Crow-Inn
THANKS KELLE!
PrimBlessings!
Cedara
http://www.thrutheatticdoor.com
http://thrutheatticdoor2.blogspot.com
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